HomeTVDoctor Who‘Doctor Who’ stars David Tennant and Arthur Darvill headed to US TV

David Tennant and Arthur Darvill both star in the upcoming ITV police drama entitled Broadchurch. A deal has just been struck for the show to air on BBC America.

Profits do seem to make strange bedfellows. According to THR, BBC rival TV network ITV has just sold the American broadcast rights to its upcoming police drama to BBC America. The series is slated to debut in the U.K. in the spring, but there is no word on whether the show will air in a similar time-frame in the USA.

The show stars a number of actors familiar to U.K. viewers; however, of note to U.S. viewers, David Tennant and Arthur Darvill, both of Doctor Who fame, play significant recurring roles. Tennant plays Detective Inspector Alec Hardy, who arrives in Broadchurch, the title town, following the death of a young boy. Arthur Darvill, plays the town priest named Paul Coates.

The Doctor Who connections don’t end with Tennant and Darvill. Writer Chris Chibnall, who penned multiple episodes of Torchwood and Doctor Who, is at the creative helm. Chibnall’s most recent contributions to Doctor Who were this season’s “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” and “The Power of Three.” In fact, according to Steven Moffat, Chibnall would have written another episode in 2013 had not Broadchurch taken off earlier than expected.

In describing Broadchurch, Chibnall stated,

Broadchurch focuses on a small British community which finds itself at the eye of a storm. In the wake of one boy’s death, the residents of Broadchurch come under scrutiny and suspicion. It’s a story of scale and intimacy, as the lives of the characters are laid bare.